Torstenson War
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Torstenson War | |
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Part of the Danish Straits, Jutland ) Baltic Sea and North Sea | |
Result | Swedish victory |
Territorial changes |
Sweden for a period of 30 years as a guarantee |
Supported by:
Holy Roman Empire[1]
Hannibal Sehested
Anders Bille
Ebbe Ulfeldt
Matthias Gallas
The Torstenson War
Denmark had withdrawn from the Thirty Years' War in the 1629 Treaty of Lübeck. After its victories in the war, Sweden felt it had to attack Denmark-Norway due to its advantageous geographical position in relation to Sweden. Sweden invaded in a short two-year war. In the Second Treaty of Brömsebro (1645), which concluded the war, Denmark-Norway had to make huge territorial concessions and exempt Sweden from the Sound Dues, de facto acknowledging the end of the Danish dominium maris baltici. Danish efforts to reverse this result in the Second Northern, Scanian and Great Northern wars failed.
Background
Sweden had been highly successful in the Thirty Years' War, having defeated Imperial armies in Germany and seen substantial victories under Gustavus Adolphus and after his death, under the leadership of Count Axel Oxenstierna, Lord High Chancellor of Sweden. At the same time, Sweden was continually threatened by Denmark–Norway, which almost completely encircled Sweden from the south (Blekinge, Scania and Halland), the west (Bohuslän) and the north-west (Jämtland and Härjedalen). The Danish Sound Dues were also a continuing source of irritation and a contributing factor to the war. In the spring of 1643 the Swedish Privy Council determined that their military strength made territorial gains at the expense of Denmark-Norway likely. The Count drew up the plan for war and directed a surprise multi-front attack on Denmark in May.
Prelude
Swedish Field Marshal Lennart Torstensson was ordered to march against Denmark. Proceeding from Moravia, his forces entered Danish territory in Holstein on 12 December and by the end of January 1644 the Jutland peninsula was in his possession. In February 1644, the Swedish General Gustav Horn with an army of 11,000 men occupied much of the Danish provinces of Halland and Scania, except for the fortress town of Malmø.
War
Denmark
This attack caught Denmark-Norway unaware and poorly prepared but King
Norway
Norway, governed by Christian's son-in-law,
Sehested had made preparations to advance with his own army and a similar army under
Aftermath
Christian's Danish forces were so exhausted that he was forced to accept the mediation of France and the United Provinces in suing for peace. The
Later events
The defeat of Denmark-Norway reversed the historic balance of power in the Baltic. Sweden gained domination of the Baltic, unrestricted access to the North Sea and was no longer encircled by Denmark–Norway. The surprise attack assured that Denmark–Norway now looked for an opportunity to recoup their losses, while Sweden looked for opportunities to expand further, setting the stage for continued conflict on the Baltic over the next century. With Denmark–Norway out of the war, Torstenson then pursued the Imperial army under Gallas from Jutland in Denmark south to Bohemia. At the Battle of Jankau near Prague, the Swedish army defeated the Imperial army under Gallas and could occupy Bohemian lands and threaten Prague, as well as Vienna.
Footnotes
- ^ also known as the Hannibal controversy or Hannibal War (Norwegian: Hannibalfeiden) after Norwegian governor-general Hannibal Sehested
References
- ISBN 9789189080140.
Sources
- History of the Norwegian People, by Knut Gjerset, The MacMillan Company, 1915, Volume II
- Nordens Historie, by Hiels Bache, Forslagsbureauet, Kjøbenhavn, 1884.
- Sweden and the Baltic, 1523–1721, by Andrina Stiles, Hodder & Stoughton, 1992 ISBN 0-340-54644-1
- The Struggle for Supremacy in the Baltic: 1600–1725, by Jill Lisk; Funk & Wagnalls, New York, 1967
- The Northern Wars, 1558–1721 by ISBN 0-582-06429-5